2/22/13

Loving Seattle




Just a brief note to tell y'all how much fun I'm having in Seattle with Meg celebrating my birthday. We walked in the rain to Pikes Place Market, withstood gale force winds on the top of the Space Needle, and we're now enjoying the restful view of a rainbow and sunset over downtown Seattle.

I've been taking lots of pictures, but you'll have to wait until I get back home and go through all the pics on my camera to see them all. In the meantime, I wanted to share one photo - Meg and I enjoying a nice latte at the original Starbucks, warming up and drying off. It's just not fair that Meg's hair turns out so pretty and mine looks so messy after our walk in the rain.

2/19/13

What to do with leftover pepperoni




It all started because I had pepperoni left over from making pizza the week before last. I could have made more pizza, but I thought about making pizza muffins. My first thought was to use refrigerated biscuit dough, but then I started googling and found a recipe for these muffins. Actually, I found a couple that were very similar, which was good because the recipe I printed off didn't say how much baking powder or spices, and I didn't think I should just guess at the baking powder.

Then, since the oven was on, I figured I'd mix up the Trader Joe's Pumpkin bread mix. I'm looking forward to my breakfast tomorrow! Since I've got one more work trip coming up before I leave my job, I don't think I'll be able to eat the whole loaf. So, I put half of it into freezer bags and put them away for when I get back into town.

Then, I baked cookies. I actually had to go back to the grocery store for sugar. I should have gotten more butter and brown sugar as I only had 1 3/4 sticks of butter and the recipe calls for 2 and my brown sugar was dried out. The cookies taste okay, but don't look quite as pretty as normal. I hope my coworkers like the, since I plan to take the cookies into the office to celebrate my last full day there.

I am a little shocked at myself. I did all this and cleaned up. It's been a while since I was around during the week and not at work and not exhausted to the point that I jut ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed. I'm hoping this resurgence of evening energy keeps up, as I'm going to need all the energy that I can muster to get my apartment all packed up.

Recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Muffins
Slightly modified from http://www.fatsecret.com/recipes/pepperoni-pizza-muffins/Default.aspx

Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/5 tsp baking powder
(some) Italian seasonings
(some) red pepper flakes
1 oz pepperoni (14 slices)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1 large egg
2 cups (ish) shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup reduced fat milk
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 dash salt
Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375° F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes; whisk in the milk and egg.
Stir in the mozzarella, parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.
Stir the batter and divide among the muffin cups.
Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through.
Serve the muffins with the pizza sauce for dipping.

2/15/13

Well, hello again




Long time, no post, right? Well, I found that my job just didn't balance with a life that involved doing just about anything creative, much less writing about it. But, now, I'm moving on in my life and moving home to Texas. Which brings me to sitting in a coffee shop in for a few minutes this pleasant Friday afternoon sharing a picture of one of the valentines I made for a friend.

The card was a quick and easy reintroduction to a creative life, that I hope will continue to grow. And, this blog post is my reintroduction to you and writing about the creative things I'm up to (as well as some of the more mundane items of life). Expect a few posts about leaving Madison, the tasks of moving, and getting settled back into small town life as I make this transition. If someone is actually been checking in on this blog regularly looking for a post, her you go and I promise many more. I hope that you will be joined by scores of fellow followers in the weeks and months to come.

Happy Friday!

Location:N Grimes St,Giddings, TX United States